When Braxton Miller was asked if his 27 carries yesterday were too many, he broke into an are-you-kidding-me? grin. A reporter who asked a boxer if 27 shots to the head from Mike Tyson were too many might have gotten the same response.

“ Yeah,” the Ohio State quarterback said. His eyes opened wide. “I’ve never had 27 in my life. It’s a lot.”

A lot, yes. But too many? Yes and no. The twin answers cut to the heart of what could become a serious problem if the Buckeyes don’t solve it soon.

Twenty-seven is probably too many if the Buckeyes want to keep Miller healthy and on the field. He faced reporters after Ohio State’s 31-16 victory over Central Florida with an ice pack soothing a “knot” on his right elbow and admitted he was sore. But 27 might have been the right number for the Buckeyes to avoid an upset.

Two games into the season, the Buckeyes are back to facing the same kind of quandary they endured with Terrelle Pryor at quarterback in 2009 and 2010. Miller is a wildly talented guy and the most effective runner on the team, working in an offense that appears to need him to run the ball to succeed.

Last week, he carried 17 times for 161 yards in a 56-10 victory over Miami University, and coach Urban Meyer said that was too many. But without the 27 carries, 141 yards and three touchdowns he had yesterday — he also completed 18 of 24 passes for 155 yards, one touchdown and one interception — well, let’s just say the fire-the-coach lunatics might have been back in business this morning.

“That’s too much,” Meyer said. “Twenty-seven hits. He’s blown out right now. We have to be smart. Someone’s gotta run the ball, and right now he’s our best answer.”

The situation is not without complications. Although the coaches obviously can limit the number of running plays called for him, Miller determines many of those based on what he sees after he takes the snap in the team’s up-tempo spread offense.

It’s not all on Miller or the coaches, the defense, the game situation, the reads … any or all of the above helps to determine when and how often the sophomore keeps the ball.

“We called some of those — we had more direct runs,” Meyer said. “Last week, I want to say we had three direct runs. He made a couple of decisions that were incorrect where he pulled it where he should have given it. He’s scrambling around. Not all of those are direct runs. He’s the kind of guy where he’s an athlete playing quarterback. We’re changing that, but (27 carries are) too much.“I’ll say it again next week … but we have to find a way to win that game.”

A second-quarter injury to running back Carlos Hyde put more of an onus on Miller and, with No. 1 running back Jordan Hall already out, even more pressure fell on Miller to make some plays. He already had 14 carries at halftime, only three fewer than the 17 Meyer thought were too many last week, so this seemed to be more about winning than Hyde’s injury.

If you step back and take a broader focus, the problem appears more acute: The Knights are a good team, but the Buckeyes should face tougher opponents in the Big Ten.

“Coach (Tom) Herman told us that our game plan was not to make him the focus of the run game,” center Corey Linsley said, “and, unfortunately, things took a turn for the worst, and he had to step up and be the playmaker that he is.”

But if he has to do it again next week, and the next week, and the next week, the chances that he’llstay healthy go down. No matter how talented a runner Miller is, the Buckeyes need to find a way to spread out those carries.

“We definitely do,” fullback Zach Boren said. “I mean, he can’t survive a 12-game schedule, especially in the Big Ten, running the ball as much as he is. But at the same time, we needed Braxton today. He’s a playmaker and when we need the offense to go, we put it in his hands and he goes with it. He’s kind of the backbone. We needed him today, and he showed up.”